Shabbat has ended and now it’s time to catch everyone up on what we have been doing. Friday morning we drove to Jerusalem, excited for what was to come in the holiest city of all. We first went to Mount Herzl, the grave site for all of Israel’s fallen soldiers. It was a super important and emotional experience for all of us, especially with our new soldier friends in uniform walking and guiding us through. After that, we headed to the Jerusalem Mall for some food, shopping, and aroma coffee! We then checked into the hotel and checked out of our phones because the shabbas was starting. We got the super special opportunity to do shabbat services at the wall. While there, we were surrounded by so many Jews and other birthright groups singing, cheering, dancing, and appreciating the moment as much as they could. To wrap up the night we had a very nice shabbat dinner where we made some L’chaims and again, sang lots of songs. We walked back to the hotel and got some sleep to get ready for Saturday.
We had a nice late wake up on Saturday, a great start to our day of rest. Throughout the day, we participated in different programs including a “stump the rabbi” where we could ask any questions about Judaism we wanted to. We also had a chance to go to a local park, play some games and do a “secret Moses” game where everyone bought a 10 shekel present for their person they picked out of a hat. To close the shabbat, we had our havdallah ceremony and then celebrated on Ben Yehuda Street through the night. There were stores, clubs, bars, restaurants and more and it really was such a fun night. We are getting closer with each other and the soldiers on the trip as each day goes by. Tomorrow, we have a very full and fun day including seven bat mitzvahs! Til next time!